I like to charge my player around the 50% mark. I mostly use it for podcasts so don't like to run out halfway through. Does it matter when you charge the player or should you just charge it whenever you feel like it?

I've heard that it is good for your battery to let it run out completely before charging it. I think (don't quote me on this) the reason is, when you charge your battery, it kills a little bit of it so that it can't be charged, thus the battery life going down over time. This happens less so if it's completely dead, but not by much. That said, it won't kill you sansa to charge it at 50%, but it might make it last a bit longer to let it die.

I found the information the link to the batteryuniversity in the second post http://www.batteryuniversity.com/ to be very helpful when I first starting using lithium batteries. The only batteries of mine that haven't lived up to expectations were the one I didn't maintain according to those guidelines.